For the sake of its image, if nothing else, Yahoo would no doubt like to slow or stop the constant flow of departing employees.  But it looks like the stream is as steady as ever, with an especially central person – the company’s CIO – leaving this week.

One mitigating factor: Michael Kirwan didn’t spend an especially long time at Yahoo, with his stint just starting in July of last year.

Also, we should note that Kirwan previously worked for VeriSign, which is perhaps less impressive and relevant in the search and advertising industry than employment at Microsoft, Google, or a number of other organizations.

Still, Kirwan was important.  Kara Swisher reported that his corporate bio gave him "global responsibility for Yahoo!’s Corporate Systems group, which includes the IT Infrastructure, Corporate Applications, CRM and Premium Services Infrastructure teams."

Swisher also noted, "Kirwan reported to David Dibble, EVP of Service Engineering & Operations at Yahoo."

In any event, there’s no word yet on who will replace Kirwan at Yahoo.  We’ll be sure to report if/when that changes.